Important December Dates

• Snowflake Shop: Our class will be visiting the Snowflake Shop on December 6th @ 9:30 am. If your child is planning on buying gifts during this time, please send back the list of names, money, and filled out gift tags by December 6th. Click the link to volunteer: https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0D4CAAA82EA0F58-redwood1
• Winter Singing Concerts- First grade is singing on December 13th from 9:15-9:45 am. We are located on the right side of the stage, as you look at the stage. Finding a spot to sit on the left side of the gym might be helpful.
• MAPS Testing- Our second MAPS test of the year will be on Monday December 4th and Monday December 11th, both afternoons. Please help your child get plenty of sleep both Sunday nights and encourage them to try their best!
• Mrs. Speier, our guidance counselor, will be coming into our room on Fridays to teach guidance lessons. Her first unit it called Skills for Learning and focuses on listening skills, focusing attention, following directions, and staying on task.
• Polar Express Day: Wednesday, December 20th is Polar Express day in first grade! Our entire day will include activities based on the Polar Express. Your child can wear pajamas, slippers, and robes to school this day. They can bring a small blanket if they choose. We will have indoor recess and end the day watching the movie The Polar Express. Warm pajamas are recommended, even though we are staying inside for recess. 
• This week in Reading our BIG question is: How Can You Find Your Way Around? We are learning all about the types of maps and how they can help us navigate around different places. The new spelling sound we learned was   -tch  as in "ch" (watch, latch, catch). We continue to focus on the suffix -es. We practiced finding the main idea and 3 supporting details of text. 
• New High Frequency Words: around, by, many, place, walk
• In math, we are working on our trickiest unit so far! See if your child can solve some of the equations below & make up equations of your own!
• Finding unknown numbers (4 + ___ = 13)
• Deciding if equations are true or false (5+8=12-3  true or false)
• hint- have them show you how to "connect, connect"
• Solve word problems with 3 addends (7+3+6=__ )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Harptoons and Habitats

Steve Harpster taught us how to draw silly characters out of numbers!

http://www.harptoons.com/

• This week in math, we learned that a fact family is a set of 3 numbers that are added and subtracted to make 4 equations. We worked with dominoes to create fact families and we also made fact family turkeys that are hanging in the hallway.  We also met Even Steven and Odd Todd to help us explore odd and even numbers. Check out the game "Number Ninja" on ABCYa for more practice. 
• New High Frequency Word Lists came home this week. It has every word we will be learning this quarter. This week we covered the words: eat, no, of, under, who
• Our essential question is: Where do animals live together? We have explored the following habitats through the stories in class: forest, desert, pond, bayou, and next week we will finish with the ocean. 
• Keep practicing the suffixes: -s, -es, -ing, -ed. 
• We have partnered with BW-3 in Avon Lake to promote reading for elementary students. In your mailbox, you will find a Reading Reward Card (Please send these home). Students that read at least 20 minutes per night or read a book will be able to have their reading reward card initialed by a parent, teacher or staff member. If they read 5 books or over 100 minutes they receive a free kids meal. If they read ten books or over 200 minutes they will receive $10.00 dollars off of a food item. Once their card is filled, they can take it to the BW-3 in Avon Lake to redeem their prize. The program runs from now until January 31, 2018.

$1 Hat Day Friday & Muffins with Mom RSVP

• Last Call for PTA Directory! Don't miss out on being in the Redwood School PTA Directory for the 2017-2018 school year.  An electronic copy will go out later this month, but you must be a PTA member to be included and to receive the Redwood School PTA Directory. Register by 11/10 at https://my.cheddarup.com/c/redwood-pta-2017
•  Muffins with Mom (Click Link to RSVP) Please RSVP for our Muffins with Mom (or grandma, aunt, sister, etc.) event at Redwood Elementary school using the Google link below! One adult only please. November 15 & 16, 2017 at 8:00 am in the gym and cafeteria. Muffins, coffee and milk will be provided.
• The scholastic book fair will be open during Muffins with Mom. If you would like to volunteer to work the book fair, here's the link:
  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNGoQSyUEHMwxlhBdwWk0X_pkPiAN8Gx2WW6wSoPzO240YvA/viewform?usp=sf_link
• The PTA Reflections Program has kicked off! The theme this year is "Within Reach".  Kids can enter any original works of art in the categories of Dance Choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.
  All entries are due to Mrs. Chernisky or your homeroom teacher by Nov 28. Entry forms: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E6e7CXKw2ex-PumS-KAMUOiS8BFeIYD5/view?usp=sharing

Hat Day & Kisses From Heaven

• This week we began Unit 2 week 2 in Wonders. The essential questions are: What buildings do you know? What are they made of? 
• New high frequency words: could, live. one, then, three
• We have been reading many different versions of The Three Little Pigs and then identifying the characters, setting, and events that take place on each page of the story. We know these stories are fantasies because the animals are talking!
• We are working with 's contractions like: she's, he's, it's, and let's. 
• Check out this fun contractions rap that we sang to learn what exactly a contraction is. /https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar58NnHb1rk
• Log onto wonders for additional games to practice contractions at home. Login information is on the back of your child's take home folder. 
• We practices adding the suffix s and -es to words like: boxes, foxes, branches, and buzzes. See if your child can chant our new rule to you: "When a word ends in x,z,s,ch, or sh add -es."
• In math, we completed Topic 3 and quizzed on Friday. We will begin Topic 4 Monday (Subtraction Facts to 20).
Events Coming Up:
• Next Friday November 10th is hat day. Bring $1 to wear a hat and raise money for the Jeremy Cares Foundation. 
•  Muffins with Mom is in 2 weeks! Moms, grandmas, aunts, or older sisters are invited to come to school at 8 am to enjoy a muffin with your child. We ask that only "one girl adult" attends muffins with mom per student. The dates are split as: Last names A-M on November 15 and last names N-Z on November 16.
• Kisses from Heaven is collecting items to send to the hospitals for parents with babies in the NICU. Please see the flyer for more information on how you can make a difference: